Check against delivery.

Thank you, Minister, and good afternoon, everyone.

Over the last 24 hours, we have identified 1,363 new cases of COVID-19 and completed about 4,986 tests.

Our positivity rate for lab-confirmed cases is about 29.3%.

Turning to hospitalizations, there are currently a total of 1,586 people with COVID-19 in hospital, including 126 in the ICU.

Sadly, I must share that 22 new deaths were reported to Alberta Health over the last 24 hours.

I send my sympathies to the family and friends grieving the loss of these Albertans. Their passing leaves a hole in their communities, as does the loss of anyone from any cause.

As of February 10, Alberta Education has advised only 4 of the more than 2,500 schools in Alberta are currently shifted to temporary at-home learning to address operational challenges. Alberta Education will continue to work with school authorities on shifts to at-home learning. And all requests from schools to shift to at-home learning so far have been approved.

It is encouraging to see a continued declining trend – less than one quarter of one percent of schools are now on temporary at-home learning.

Today, I have some updates to share.

The first is that effective February 16, fully immunized workers in continuing care will be able to resume working at multiple facilities.

I have talked about this change previously, indicating that it was coming.

This move is intended to help facilities avoid staffing challenges brought on by limiting workers to a single long-term care or designated supportive living facility.

It is also supported by operators and other continuing care stakeholders, many of whom were consulted throughout the fall and winter.

The single site staffing requirement was originally implemented in April of 2020 to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading across multiple facilities and putting residents and staff at risk.

As you remember, the early weeks and months of COVID-19 saw high case numbers in continuing care, which sadly led to outbreaks and deaths among residents.

Fortunately, vaccines have been extremely helpful in reducing the risk of severe outcomes, and we can now remove this restriction on fully vaccinated workers to mitigate the risk of sites not having enough workers to care for patients.

The overwhelming majority of residents and staff are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Approximately 80% of residents in long-term care and designated supportive living have received three doses of vaccine.

Continuing care facilities will continue to have COVID-19 protocols and outbreak procedures in place as part of their day-to-day operations. 

These safety protocols, including continuous masking, enhanced cleaning and disinfection, health screening upon entry, testing, and isolation when required, will continue at these facilities to protect residents and staff until Step 3.

I want to recognize and thank the many operators, administrators and staff in these facilities for the excellent quality of care being provided and for managing resource demands throughout the last two years. This has been challenging and exhausting, and I appreciate your work. Your efforts have helped prioritize staff and residents’ safety throughout the pandemic. 

The next update I have is about third doses for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 who have underlying health conditions, and also those in this age group who are First Nations, Metis or Inuit.

Bookings will start next Tuesday, February 15, for these youth.

The additional clinical risk factors include underlying medical conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and other conditions that may put them at greater risk for severe COVID-19 illness, the list can be found on the Alberta government’s website.

In addition, adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 with immunocompromising conditions will be eligible to book a fourth dose.

This expansion comes at the recommendation of both the National and Alberta Advisory Committees on Immunization because youth with these risk factors may be at higher risk for severe outcomes.

At this time, there is no recommendation for third doses for all children and youth, since the two-dose vaccine regimen remains very effective against severe disease for this group.

Also beginning next Tuesday, we will open up third dose bookings for children 5 to 11 who have specific immunocompromising conditions, as a part of their primary series. This is the same approach we have taken in all age groups for those who are undergoing cancer treatment, taking immunosuppressive medication, or who have another condition that lowers their immune response. For these people, a third dose in the primary series is needed to get closer to the response that non-immunocompromised people have after two doses.

If your child is eligible and the recommended time has elapsed please consider getting them their booster dose as soon as possible.

This is a time of transition, and change is always hard. It is especially difficult when we are all exhausted from constant change over the past few years, and our communities are polarized. As much as possible, I ask that all of us seek to be gentle with ourselves and others. We need each other in our communities, and that will never change.

Thank you, and we’re happy to take questions.